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Everything You Forgot About Exquisite Captive

So it’s been over a year since Exquisite Captive came out and now Blood Passage is on the shelves and you want to dig right in, but you’re a little fuzzy on what actually went down in the first book. If you don’t have time to do a re-read of Exquisite Captive, then this is your recap.

Note: Spoilers, tons, ALL OF THE SPOILERS are below.

First, open your book and look at the gorgeous map of Arjinna (the jinn land) and the list of jinn castes and jinn gods/goddesses.

Things to remember:

There are five jinn castes. Each caste has their own smoke and eye color.

Everybody hates the Ghan Aisouri because they used to oppress all the other jinn before the Ifrit gunned them down.

Everybody hates the Ifrit because they are violent and evil (re: gunning down the Aisouri).

Everybody hates the Shaitan because they forced the other castes into slavery.

The Marid and Djans are the only castes without a lot of blood on their hands. They’re the ones fighting against the Ifrit in the jinn revolution (more on that later).

Now, let’s hang out with the cast, shall we?

(No, but seriously, there are a ton of spoilers below. You have been warned!)

The Cast

Nalia Aisouri’Taifyeh

Jinn Caste: Ghan Aisouri (The most powerful jinn)

Quote:“Granting wishes is a bitch.”

You learn pretty quickly that the Ifrit murdered Nalia’s entire race. She’s the sole survivor of the Aisouri, sold into slavery on Earth. She’s purchased by Malek Alzahabi, a wealthy—like seriously wealthy—human. He wears the bottle he likes to keep Nalia in for punishments around his neck (I now give you permission to start singing Christina Aguilera’s Genie in a Bottle). Nalia soon learns that the only way she can get her freedom is to steal the bottle. Problem is, he never takes it off. But then she finds out he’s in love with her…Hmmm…let me think of situations where Nalia could get the bottle off the neck of a man who loves her…Oh yeah, and she’s the heir to the Arjinnan throne.

Malek Alzahabi

Jinn Caste: ½ Ifrit, ½ human

Quote:“You can’t grant me what I want. You have to give it to me. Some day you will.”

Oh, Malek. You either love him or hate him. He’s been Nalia’s master for three years and refuses to grant her third wish so she can never leave him. He’s fallen in love with her and is determined to make her love him, as well. He’s a cruel master and Nalia wants to avoid him putting her in the bottle at all costs. Malek is a businessman—we don’t really know what he does, just that he’s incredibly wealthy. When we find out he’s an Ifrit pardjinn (half-jinn), we’re like, Ohhhh, that’s why he’s so bad.

Raif Djan’Urbi

Jinn Caste: Djan

Quote:“…if you want me to kiss your feet, don’t worry, because I intend on kissing every inch of you the first chance I get…”

Enter sexy revolutionary, Raif. He’s the leader of the jinn revolution in Arjinna, where they’re trying to free themselves from oppression under the Ifrit jinn. Raif has come to Earth because he’s learned that Nalia knows the location of Solomon’s sigil, a mythical ring that allows the wearer to control all jinn. Raif offers Nalia a deal: get him the ring and he will use his unbinding spell to free Nalia of Malek. Everything gets complicated when he and Nalia fall in love. He’s supposed to hate the Ghan Aisouri, but he can’t hate this one…no matter how hard he tries.

Zanari Djan’Urbi

Jinn Caste: Djan

Quote:“…being a leader isn’t always about what you want.”

Zanari is Raif’s sister. She has a special power known as voiqhif, which allows her to picture anyone, any place, or any thing in the world. We call this remote viewing. This is how Raif was able to find Nalia. Zan is a revolutionary in her brother’s army. She also has really cool braided hair.

Leilan

Jinn Caste: Marid

Quote:“Don’t get me wrong, I miss Arjinna but godsdamn do I love human food.”

Leilan is Nalia’s BFF. She’s a free jinni because she granted her master’s third wish. She’s the bartend at Habibi, an underground jinn club, and an artist. Unfortunately, Leilan is murdered in the most gruesome way imaginable by Haran (see below).

Haran

Jinn Caste: n/a

Quote:“Haran wants to know what an empress tastes like.”

Haran is a ghoul used by the Ifrit leadership that’s being sent to murder Nalia. We see him travelling all over the world looking for her. He treats the jinn he meets as dinner (he’s a cannibal…ewwww). Nalia kills him in the end, so it’s all good.

Bashil

Jinn Caste: Shaitan

Bashil is Nalia’s brother, who’s trapped in a prison camp in Arjinna. He’s only eight years old and Nalia fears for his life. She’s desperate to be free so she can save him.

Jordif Mahar

Jinn Caste: Marid

Quote:“Screw up once in a while. It’s good for you.”

Jordif is the owner of Habibi and Raif and Zanari’s host while they’re on Earth. We find out that instead of rescuing jinn who are being sold into slavery, he’s making money off them by getting them to the humans in the slave trade.

Calar

Jinn Caste: Ifrit

We don’t see Calar in this book, but you need to remember that she’s the evil empress of Arjinna.

What You Need To Know From The Book:

What’s The Deal With The Bottle?: Malek always wears it around his neck because if Nalia gets it, he can’t summon her, which means she can run away. If Nalia misbehaves, he forces her to go inside it. It’s a horrible punishment that Nalia avoids at all costs. If Malek finds out she really doesn’t love him and she’s going behind his back to be free of him, he may put her in the bottle forever.

And The Wishes? Jinn must grant their masters three wishes. After they grant the third wish, they’re free. Malek refuses to grant Nalia’s third wish because he loves her and knows she would leave him. At the end of the book, he makes his third wish (more on that later).

Why Nalia Wants To Be Free (other than the obvious reasons): She wants to free her brother from the prison camp he’s in in Arjinna. If she doesn’t hurry, he won’t survive.

How Raif Can Save Her: He knows a special unbinding magic that allows him to get Nalia’s shackles off her wrists. But this will only work if she has the bottle. In exchange, Nalia agrees to take him to get Solomon’s sigil.

What Went Down In Arjinna: The Ghan Aisouri were the rulers. The Ifrit killed them. The Ifrit are now oppressing all the other jinn and so there is a civil war, led by the Djan and Marid jinn. The Shaitan jinn used to be overlords, but they lost power after the Ifrit took the palace. They have been imprisoned or forced to serve the Ifrit.

Nalia’s Secrets: It was Nalia’s fault that the Ifrit came to power; she helped free an Ifrit prisoner and that prisoner came back with an army. She also killed Raif’s BFF. Oh, and she knows exactly where Solomon’s sigil is.

So, There’s This Ghoul: Haran is Calar’s special agent (remember, Calar is the evil Ifrit empress). He’s searching for Nalia because Calar wants her killed, since Nalia’s the rightful heir to the throne. So there’s a time crunch. Nalia has to get the bottle and be free of Malek before this ghoul comes to eat her. And Raif needs Nalia alive so she can get him Solomon’s sigil. If he has it, he can win the revolution.

The End: Raif unbinds Nalia (yay!), BUT Malek shows up and Nalia is forced to grant his third and final wish (boo, hiss): he wants her to take him to the location of Solomon’s sigil (yep, same thing Raif wants her to do). Nalia has no choice but to grant the wish, which means she has to go on a long journey to the Moroccan desert, where the ring is hidden beneath the sand. (Why hello, Book 2!)

Questions We Want Answered in Blood Passage:

Who gets the ring????

Will Nalia and Raif be able to stay together? Or does Malek stand a chance?

No, seriously: Raif or Malek?

Are we going to see some of Arjinna, the jinn land?

Will Nalia be able to rescue her brother before it’s too late?

We know Calar is behind the scenes in Arjinna—will we see her in this book?